brothers in arms
by Geekybrim
Summary: Commander Lod Hermell's first mission for the republic navy is to rescue the clones protecting aldeaan from a sepertist invasion... but will he survive?
1. Chapter 1

A long time ago, in a galaxy far

far away

 **STAR**

 **WARS**

BROTHERS IN ARMS

Peaceful world under siege! In a bold and daring move, separatist forces have attacked the peaceful world of alderaan during a visit by senator **bail organa**. Because of the planets peaceful ideals, republic forces can do nothing but flee. With their forces dwindling, the commander of the senator's personal clone force, commander Bulk, sends out a last desperate distress signal.

The signal is received by the nearest republic vessel, the resolute, flagship of Jedi general **Anakin Skywalker**. Acting fast, the fleet hurries to help the dwindling republic force. However, the republic underestimates the separatist force, which is much stronger than any fleet the republic had previously encountered.

Met with heavy resistance from the separatist force, the fleet is severely delayed, leaving commander Bulk and his two best men, Reg and Scope, to hold the landing platform for the rescue shuttle, if it ever arrives...

The space above alderaan lit up with laser fire. Explosions dotted the hull of the republic's venator-class star destroyer, a bombardment that could not be taken much longer. From the hanger, three shapes were suddenly dwarfed by the massive battle cruiser that they were leaving. The rescue shuttle, escorted by two republic gunships, swiftly dodged laser fire and vulture droids

Inside the shuttle, Commander Lod Hermell took a deep breath and accelerated, quickly followed by the gunships either side of him. Despite having the rank of commander, this was the first time Lod had seen combat during the clone war. He had only just been promoted off of a backwater, obscure medical station near the Ryndellia system to serve with one of the greatest, even if the most reckless, generals in the republic fleet. Lod could have been honoured, but really he was just glad to be off that station, doing the same patrol every day, once round the station, twice round the nearby moon, beeline for the hanger... Lod shuddered at the thought and quickly brought himself back to reality.

The shuttle swerved effortlessly between lasers and fighters, staying particularly clear of exploding projectiles, due to the droid's nasty habit of filling them with..."BUZZ BROIDS" yelled Lod's co-pilot, getting out of the way faster than a stray womp rat on the track of boonta eve classic .Lod looked at CT-24501. He had always felt weird, being one of the only humans in a clone army, being the only man on deck with his own face, everyone else with same body, same voice, same everything. Lod reminded himself that there was a good reason for this: they were disposable. One man dies, the same one takes his place. That was how this war worked, but it didn't stop it from being a little creepy.

Just then, he was brought back to reality once again, as the shuttle rocked violently. "Looks like the clankers have noticed us!" shouted CT-24501, indicating to several red arrows on the radar, representing vulture droids. As the shuttle rocked again Lod glanced at the screen again. There was an entire squadron of droids on their tail. They had obviously been identified as a high priority target "karabast" Lod muttered under his breath, and shouted to his co-pilot "hold on, CT-24501! I'm taking evasive manoeuvres!" as he strapped himself in. "for the last time commander, call me..." the clone's reply was cut short as a laser tore open the hull of their craft, sucking CT-24501 into the vacuum of space.

Lod should have mourned. He probably would have too, if the same hull breach that claimed the life of his co-pilot wasn't threatening to kill him too. Lod struggled against the force pulling towards the wound in the shuttle's side. He extended his hand, a feat easier said than done when everything in the ship was being pulled out by the laws of physics. Slowly, his hand hovered over a button, and descended with an almighty slam. Lod suddenly fell to the ground, along with everything else that hadn't been pulled into space. He turned his head and let out a sigh of relief. The hole was now covered by a red ray shield, its constant humming filling Lod's ears.

Lod struggled back to the pilot's seat and peered out the window. The blue ball that was alderaan was growing closer faster than Lod would have liked. An alarm started sounding as the shuttle began to enter the atmosphere. Lod checked the radar. The droids had left, probably presuming him dead. Lod grabbed the both joysticks and pulled up as hard as he could. Flames licked the edges of the windows of the craft as the mountains of alderaan came slowly into view. Lod summoned all of his strength and pulled up on the joystick and slowly brought the windows landing to show the landing platform of alderaan's capital. _"There..."_ thought Lod, aiming the ship for the platform _"if I can just make it to the landing platform..."_ the windows began to crack. _"Almost there..."_ they shattered. _"just a little more..."_ Lod blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

Commander bulk leaped behind the remains of an armored assault tank as an enemy shell exploded a few feet away from where he was standing. He put a pair of microbinoculars to his visor and pointed them towards the control tower of the airfield the battle was taking place In. He could make out an arf trooper in camouflage gear, save his right arm, which had a single red stripe going the whole way down. This designated him as part of the senatorial guard, a job he was certainly doing. behind him stood a man with black hair, a marching goatee , brown eyes and attire fit for a king. That was because he was bail organa, senator for allderaan, and also its king. The trooper had a sniper rifle and was skillfully picking off battle droids from the entrance to the airfield

Bulk turned to his left to look at the clone trooper next to him. Despite being of a high rank, the trooper kept his armor in the standard issue guard markings, white with red arm stripes, a red helmet fin and a red stripe across his brow. "what should we do, commander?" asked the trooper "they have the airfield surrounded!" bulk paused for a moment. For the entire year this war had been raging, he had never been in such a desperate situation. "we hold out until help arrives" he finally Replied, raising one of his command pistols from one of the pouches of his kama waist cape. so it was level with the red markings on his arc trooper helmet.

At that very moment, scope, the arf trooper in the tower, signaled bulk to look up. When bulk saw what was being signaled, a part of him wished he hadn't looked up. Plummeting towards them, beaten and broke, smoke spilling from the windows, was the rescue shuttle. Bulk ran from his cover, followed Closely by the trooper. Shuttle collided with the ground, ramming into the wreckage of the tank, coming to a halt as it slammed into the wall. Bulk groaned. "anyone have a plan b?" asked Bulk, firing on a squad of battle droids that had entered the airfield. Just as he said it, the air was filled with the characteristic hum of republic gunships.

Bulk signaled to the arf trooper. He was going to the wrecked shuttle to look for survivors. The arf trooper signaled back that he would join bulk shortly. Bulk ran towards the shuttle and heaved a large piece of debris out of the way, and saw a man in a republic naval uniform begin to stir. _Lod blinked as the light poured in from above. He could just make out the figure of a clone trooper silhouetted by in the newly created entranceway. "are you alright, sir?" Lod heard the all-too-familiar voice ask. "Yes, I'm fine." said Lod, quickly standing up and brushing down his uniform. "he doesn't look alright to me, sir." said another clone trooper, just appearing next to the other "Field manual 338 suggests that these injuries require immediate medical attention." The first clone put his hand on his faceplate. "Reg..." he said, shaking his head.

Lod looked back and forth between the two. He decided to change the subject. "what are your ID numbers?" he asked. "ARC 27-105, sir. People call me bulk." Replied the first trooper, standing at attention. His comrade imitated the action exactly. "CT-15-801, sir." He said. Lod thought it was odd that the trooper didn't add a little nickname. "we call him reg," quickly added bulk, warranting a glare from reg that lod could almost feel through the visor.

Lod opened his mouth mouth to say something, but was cut off by the familiar sound of a LAAT/I gunship. "LOOKS LIKE THE LARTIES ARE HERE!" shouted bulk, running towards the gunship`s landing position, followed closely by reg, shouting about field manual 634. Lod started after them, when he almost ran straight into an arf trooper, who was escorting...

"SIR!" Lod said, standing to attention the moment senator organa came view. The arf trooper sniggered. "Well, you and reg will get on well", he said before starting towards the gunships. "at ease, commander" the senator said, laying a hand on lod's shoulder. "I don' like being addressed as a military leader, so don't." "yes si..Bail...?"lod replied, slightly bewildered. The senator laughed. "maybe not THAT casual." He said, stepping onto a gunship. The doors slid closed and lod began walking towards the other gunship, along with the three clones


End file.
